God's Message to the New Believer

God's message to the new believer,
I'd like for you to turn to the book of Acts chapter 22. Acts 22. Now before the Apostle Paul came
to know Christ, before he was converted, before he was saved,
he was a very devout, dedicated religious person. He says in
the third verse of this chapter, I am verily a man which am a
Jew. I was born in Tarsus, he was
called Saul of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia. I was brought up
in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, the most outstanding Jewish teacher
of that day. I was taught according to the
perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and I was zealous
toward God, as you all are this day." I am a Jew, Paul said.
I was born a Jew. I was educated by the highest-ranking
religious teacher. I was taught in the things of
the Lord, and I was zealous for God, zealous for God. Before
Paul was converted, he not only was a devoutly religious man,
but he hated the way of substitution. He hated salvation through Christ. He said in verse 4, I persecuted
this way, the very way in which I trust now, the very way in
which I believe, the very way which I preach, the way of life
by the cross, by Christ, I persecuted. Paul had no compassion on either
men, women, or children who trusted the Savior. He said, I persecuted
them, look at verse 4, even unto the death. He was a religious
man, a zealously religious man, a devoutly religious man. But
he hated salvation by grace through faith in Christ the Lord. Well, look at verse 7. He was brought down. He was humble. He was brought down by God, and
I fell to the ground." Now this was for Paul, it is for anyone
a difficult experience. But happy is the day when God
Almighty is pleased to humble a proud religious sinner. Happy is the day when God Almighty
is pleased to show a proud religious sinner his guilt. Happy is the
day when God Almighty is pleased to show us that our sins are
against Christ. Listen to what the Lord said
in verse 7. Paul fell to the ground, humbled,
broken, and heard a voice which said to him, Saul, why do you
persecute men and women? Why do you persecute boys and
girls? That's not what the voice said.
The voice said, so why persecutest thou me? My friends, all sin
is against Christ. Sin is against God. Repentance
will never come to the heart until we see that our sins are
against God. He said, O Lord, against thee
and thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight. Why persecutest thou me? And
Saul said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus of Nazareth,
whom thou persecutest. Now look at verse 10. Paul said,
I was then ready to listen. I was religious. I hated the
way of substitution. I hated the way of Christ. I
hated redemption through the blood. I did everything in my
power to destroy it. I did everything in my power
to bring hurt to those that taught it. And then God humbled me. God brought me down. And I was
ready to listen. He said, O Lord, what shall I
do? Proud religious zealots are not
ready to listen to God. But convicted, broken sinners
are ready to hear his word. Happy is the day when a man is
brought to the place where he is willing and ready to listen
to God. Lord, what wilt thou have me
do? Speak, Lord, thy servant, hear
it. And then in verse twelve, God
sent a man to Paul. Now my friends, even the glorious
apostle, even the glorious writer of scripture, even the glorious
founder of churches, even the glorious apostle to the Gentile,
Paul, must hear the gospel from the lips of a man. Lord, what
will you have me do? And the Lord said, You go to
Damascus, and it will be told thee what thou shalt do. In verse
12, And one Ananias, a man, a devout man, according to the law, having
a good report of all the Jews that dwelt there, came unto me. Now when the fear of sin's guilt,
and the fear of God's wrath, and the fear of the broken law
gripped the heart, A man's ready to listen to the Word of God
from God's preacher, and that's the place to which God brought
this proud religious sinner. He brought him to the place where
he was willing to listen to a man. You see what I'm saying? Paul
had all the answers. He was religious. He was schooled
in theology. He was brought up with a proud
heritage. He'd been religious all his life.
From a child, he'd been in the temple, in the synagogue. He
hated the way of grace. He hated the way of substitution. He hated the way of Christ. And
he spoke against it, and not only did he speak against it,
but he really tried to destroy it. So God had to bring him down. God had to humble him. God had
to bring him down to the dust. God had to shut his mouth. God had to bring him to the place
where he was broken and blinded, dependent on somebody else. Somebody
else took him by the arm and led him. And he cried, Well,
what shall I do? And the Lord said, Now you go
to Damascus, and you wait right there, and I'll send somebody
to you, and he'll tell you what to do. And when this proud, religious
persecutor was brought to his knees, God sent a man to speak
to him, and Paul was ready to listen. Paul was ready to listen. Rare is it to find a man who
has been so humble and so broken and made so aware of his sins
against God that he's ready to listen to God. God sent by Ananias to Paul a
fivefold message. I want to give it to you. Now,
Ananias came to Paul. Here he was, humbled, broken,
the proud sinner brought down, knowing nothing, having nothing,
possessing nothing, contributing nothing, just empty. He ready to listen. So Ananias
came to him and stood and said to him, verse 13, Brother Saul,
receive thy sight. In the same hour my sight came
back to him and I looked at him. I looked at God's preacher, God's
messenger. Now Ananias came with God's message. We know this. Here was the sinner
ready to hear. Here was the sinner broken by
the Spirit of God. Here was the sinner, the proud
Pharisee as a little child, humbled as a little child, ready to hear
God speak, and God's messenger come. Now this is what he said,
and he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee. Now my friends,
there is only one way to preach the truth, and that is to preach
it. Paul said to Timothy, Preach
the word. be instant, in season, out of
season. There is no season for preaching
certain parts of the Bible. Preach the whole word of God.
Paul said to those people in Antioch, I've kept back nothing
profitable unto you. I have not shunned to declare
unto you the whole counsel of God. And there's only one way
to preach the word, and that's preach it. There is, listen to
me, there is no way that you can make the truth of God acceptable
to a natural man. You can't do it. Now preachers may get the idea
that they can so word their sermons that the natural man will receive
it, rejoice in it. But there's no way, there is
no way. to make the truth of God acceptable to a natural man. Listen to 1 Corinthians 2, verse
14. Now listen to this scripture.
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God, the truth of the Spirit of God, the way of the Spirit
of God, the message of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
unto him. Neither can he know them, because
they're spiritually understood. Now he that's spiritual, he that's
of God, judgeth or discerneth all things, yet he himself is
discerned or understood of no man. There's no way to make the
truth of God understandable and acceptable to a natural man.
So the only thing to do is just to preach the Word. And that's
what I intend to do, and that's what Ananias did when he came
to Saul of Tarsus here, the new believer, the man with whom God
was moving and working. And he said to him, the first
thing he said to him, Saul, the God of our fathers hath chosen
thee. Now, my friends, God Almighty
is either absolutely sovereign in all things, or He isn't. He's either sovereign in creation,
or he isn't. He's either sovereign in providence,
or he isn't. He's either sovereign in salvation,
or he isn't. And when I say sovereign, I mean
all-powerful, almighty, all-wise, working all things after the
counsel of his own will, doing what he will, when he will, with
whom he will. He's sovereign. He either is,
or he isn't. God is either the first cause of all things, or
he isn't. God either chose a people in
Christ, as he said, or he didn't. Here Ananias, the servant of
God, said, Thesau, the God of our fathers, hath chosen thee.
That's his first word. That's the first part of his
message. He walked up to this man who had been brought down,
who had been humbled, who had seen this great vision, and he
said, God did this, you didn't do it. God chose you. In Ephesians
1, verse 3 through 4, Paul said this, "...blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath chosen us in
Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him." He chose us. Christ said
to his disciples, you didn't choose me, I chose you. In II
Thessalonians 2.13, Paul said this, He said, we're bound to
give thanks always to you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation. I challenge you, my friend, to
buy your Bible, and along with it a concordance, and look up
the word elect, elected, election, and chosen, and chose, and read
those scriptures. and let them stand just like
God wrote them. Just like you let John 3.16 stand
for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. You leave that stand just like
it is. Well, also let this stand. God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth. Let it stand. God Almighty either chose a people
in Christ, as He said, or He didn't. Christ, our substitute
on Calvary, either completely redeemed a people, put away their
transgressions, washed away their sins, reconciled them to God,
or He didn't. The Holy Spirit either effectually
calls us, irresistibly calls us to faith through the Word
of God, not apart from the Word of God, or He didn't. And God's people, who were chosen
in Christ and given to Christ and redeemed by Christ and accepted
in Christ, will persevere in faith. And they will be conformed
to the image of God's Son, all of them, or none of them will. It's just that plain. And I know
that we must preach the truth in compassion. We must preach
a balanced message, but God never used ever in history a balanced
man. The men God uses, and you check
this through the Word of God, are extremists. Men who so believe
a thing, and are so possessed with it, and so dedicated to
it, that they preach it, and declare it, and stand for it,
whatever the cost. And men who seek to be balanced,
and men who seek to be accepted And they're going to
try to get men to hear their message and believe their message
while really not preaching their message are usually compromisers. And God doesn't use compromisers. Let those who will apologize
for God, apologize for His Word. But I know this, if God had not
chosen me, I'd have never chosen Him. If God had not loved me first,
I would have never loved him. If God Almighty had not singled
me out, and searched for me, and found me, and brought me
home on the shoulders of the loving shepherd, I'd still be
out there in the wilderness. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that he loved us. We love him because he first
loved us. And Ananias walked up to Saul
of Tarsus, and the first thing he said to him was, this salvation
is not of man, it's not of the will of man, it's not of the
will of the flesh, it's of God. That's the first thing that he
wanted Paul to understand. That God had chosen him, that
God had arrested him, that God Almighty had shown favor to him. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Look at the second thing that
he said to him. He said, Brother Saul, receive
thy sight, the God of thy fathers hath chosen thee. Secondly, that
thou shouldest know his will. Now, my friends, Saul knew God's
will of commandment. Saul knew God's will of commandment. Saul knew the Old Testament.
He just got through saying, back in verse 3, that he was taught
at the feet of Gamaliel. Saul had been to college. He'd
been to the seminary. Saul was a student of God's Word. He knew God's will of command,
revealed in the law, as most men do. If we're not taught by
conscience, we are taught by conscience, but not only that,
we're taught as we grow up in Sunday school. We're not always
taught right, but we're taught anyway. Most people know something
about the Bible. Not as much as Saul knew, but
they know something about the Bible. But Saul was ignorant of the
revealed will of God in redemption. That's what he's talking about
here. The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest
know his revealed will of redemption, his will of salvation by Christ. This is the will of God, our
sanctification by Christ's righteousness. Saul didn't know anything about
that. Saul knew the will of command. Saul knew the law. Saul knew
the histories. Saul knew the traditions. Saul
knew all these things, but he didn't know God's will of redemption,
how God would justify us by the blood of Christ, how God would
accept us in the Beloved, how God would receive us by Christ's
intercession. This is the will of God, even
your sanctification. Turn with me to John 6. I think
this will help us here. God hath chosen thee, that thou
shouldest know his will." In John chapter 6, verse 38. Listen carefully to this. John
6, 38. Christ said in verse 37, All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. Him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out, for I came down from heaven. not to do mine
own will, but the will of him that sent me." This is what Saul
didn't know, God's will of redemption, the will which Christ came to
accomplish, the will which Christ came to perform, the will which
Christ came to effect. I came down from heaven not to
do my own will, I came to do the will of Him that sent me.
And listen, this is the Father's will which has sent me. Now here, if I can learn this,
I'll know God's will of redemption. This is what God wills for us
to know, that you should know His will. That of all which He
hath given me, I'll lose nothing. That first is God's will. Now,
how in the world a preacher can say he's a messenger of God and
he preaches the Word of God, and he does not preach God's
everlasting covenant of grace when Christ our Lord said from
his own mouth, that he came down here to do the Father's will,
and the first part of the Father's will is this, that of all which
he hath given me I'll lose nothing. All that he gave to me in the
covenant of mercy, this is serious, isn't it? All that he gave to
me in the covenant of grace, all which he purposed to redeem
by my sacrifice, by my blood, by my offering, I'm not going
to lose one of them. God is a covenant God. If you
read the Old Testament, you'll find He made a covenant with
Abraham, and that covenant was kept at all costs. God made a covenant with David.
That covenant was kept. God made a covenant with Noah.
That covenant was kept. And God Almighty, back yonder
before the foundation of the world, made a covenant with His
Son. Verse 37, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. How
do you handle that? And verse 39, and the Lord Jesus
deliberately, positively stated, I came down here to do the Father's
will, and this is His will. that of all which he hath given
me I'll lose nothing." Look at the next statement, "...but I
shall raise it up again at the last day, all that back yonder
before the foundation of the world he gave to me, out yonder
in eternity," out yonder in the completeness or completion of
time, in the fullness of time, the day of resurrection, the
day of my coming, those are the ones I'm going to raise. That's my Father's will. Now, Anna and I stood here by
Saul of Tarsus, who had been convicted, awakened, brought
down from his religious pedestal to the dust. God showed him that
what he knew was wrong, where he was going was wrong, the direction
he was going was wrong, and sat him down, and God sent his servant
to him. and said, this is what I want
you to hear. I chose you. I chose you that you should know
my will. What is his will? The Savior tells us what his
will is, that of all which he hath given me, I'm not going
to lose one of them from the time he gave them to me to the
time I resurrect them, all of them. I'm not going to lose one
of them. All that he gave me, I'm going to All right, look at the next verse.
And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone that seeth
the Son, everyone that has his eyes opened by the Holy Spirit,
not everyone that sees him physically, because a lot of people saw him
physically that never were converted, never loved him, never believed
on him, never received him. We're not talking about visions
here, we're not talking about bodily eyesight, we're talking
about eyes of faith. Everyone that seeth the Son,
whose eyes are opened by the Holy Spirit, who sees him in
his redemptive character, who sees him in his redeeming work,
who sees him in his redemptive glory, who sees him as representative,
as substitute, as sacrifice for sin, as a sin offering, who sees
him as justifier of the ungodly. Everyone that sees him, read
on, and believes on him may have everlasting life, and I'll raise
him up at the last day. That's the Father's will. Unfortunately, that's not being preached. Unfortunately,
our churches and the leaders of our churches are in the same
shape Saul was in before God met him. They're zealous for
God, theologically exact, orthodox, tradition-minded, going about
their God set this man down. He said, now, I chose you that you might know
my will, my will of redemption, my will of salvation. This is
my will, that all that I gave to my son, he's not going to
lose a one of them. He'll raise them up at the last
day. And they're going to see the Son with eyes of faith. They're
going to see him in his redemptive character. They're going to see
him. They're going to see him. Salvation
is not making a decision to live right. Salvation is not making
a decision to go to heaven when you die. Salvation is not making
a decision accept certain doctrines and start believing the Bible.
Salvation is to see the Son. To see him in his redemptive
character, to see him in his redemptive glory, is to believe
on him. And everyone that sees him and
believes on him, God says, I'm going to give him eternal life.
That's my will. All right, what's the third thing?
The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know
his will." Now the third thing, "...and see, and see, so that you might see that just
one." Now Paul actually saw the Lord with the eyes of this body.
That's right, he saw the Lord. That's one of the requirements
for being an apostle, having seen the Lord. Paul saw the Lord,
but the reference here is to seeing Him with eyes of understanding. Paul saw Christ, the Messiah,
the Redeemer, the Sent One, but Saul saw Him as the Just One,
capital J-U-S-T, capital O-N-E, the Just One. He saw Him as the
Just One. How do you see Christ? As a babe
in the manger? You've missed Him. How do you
see Christ? As a revolutionary, you've missed
Him. How do you see Christ? As a little
mealy-mouthed fellow going around trying to get along with everybody,
you've missed Him. How do you see Christ? As a healer,
you've missed Him. How do you see Christ? As a poor,
frail, helpless thing hanging on a cross, you've missed him. You've missed him. Have you seen
him as the just one? Now, you think this is not important. You go back to sleep, or you go on back to your tradition.
But God Almighty sent this message to Saul of Tarsus. And this is
the first message he sent to him. This is God's message to
the new believer. He said, I chose you. And I chose you that you might
know my will, my will of redemption, and that you might see the Just
One. And that's capitalized because
it's Christ. Capital J-U-S-T, the Just One. Have you seen the Just One? What
do you mean, just preacher, the just one? First of all, he is
just before God, righteous. The Heavenly Father said from
glory, This is my beloved Son, the perfect one, in whom I am
well pleased. This is He. He is just before men, even Pilate. Oh, if Pilate could! If Pilate
could have! He would have, if he could have
done it, he would have found some fault with him. Oh, he wanted
to. But he had to say, I find no
fault in this man. The just one. Just before God,
and just before men, and just before the Lord. The law tested
at all points, yet without sin. Have you seen Christ as the righteous
one? the one who came down from heaven
and clothed himself in a human body and was tried and tested
and tempted in all points as we are, falsely accused, hated,
despised, rejected, spit upon, and yet he never hated, and yet he never rebelled. And yet never through his mind
went one thought of vengeance. Have you seen him as the righteous
one, our representative? Have you seen him, the righteous
one, as our high priest on that cross of Calvary bearing in his
body our sins and consequently the wrath of God against our
sins? Have you seen him as the scapegoat,
answering not a word, silent before his enemies, as the sins
of his people were laid upon him and then laid out in that
awful wilderness, that barren, thirsty wilderness of loneliness,
forsaken of the Father? Have you seen him, the righteous
one, at God's right hand as our mediator, pleading for our acquittal? Have you seen the Just One? Is all you've seen a babe in
a manger? Is all you've seen, is this all
you've seen? A fellow walking down a dusty
road healing the sick? A fellow going to a cross and
dying and being buried and even rising again? Or have you seen
Him, the Just One, taking the place of His people? of sinners,
and bearing their shame and guilt, and as the perfect Holy One,
obeying the law on their behalf, just before God, just before
the law, just before men, just before heaven. Free from the law, O happy condition,
The just one has died, and there is remission. I was cursed by
the law, I was bruised by the fall, but the just one hath redeemed
me once for all. Now I am free, there is no condemnation. The just one has provided a perfect
salvation. Come unto me, O hear his sweet
call. Come, the just one saves us once
for all. Children of God, O glorious calling,
Surely the Just One can keep me from falling, Passing from
death to life at His call. Blessed salvation in the Just
One, once and for all." Have you seen him? Have you seen him? Brethren,
as we do not preach baptismal regeneration for infants, Listen,
we do not preach decisional regeneration for adults. Baptismal regeneration is to
put water on the forehead of a baby and call it regenerated.
Decisional regeneration is just as deadly, just as false. It's
to tell people to come down to the front of a church and God
will save them. and pronouncing them saved because they fulfill
what you told them to do. That's decision or regeneration,
and it's not so. Salvation is to see the Just
One. It's to see Him. I don't mean
at night on your bed in a dream or a vision. I don't mean under
religious hypnosis and mass psychology to see some sort of vision. I
mean as a sinner. to see Christ as your representative. As a sinner, to see Christ as
your mediator. As a sinner, to see Christ as
your advocate. As a sinner, to see Christ as
your substitute. As a sinner, to see Christ as
your high priest. As a sinner, to see Christ as
your intercessor. As a dead man, to see Christ
as your life. As a naked man, to see Christ
as your clothing. As a sick man, to see Christ
as your remedy is to see the Just One, you see what I'm saying?
And believe on Him. And that's salvation. All right,
the fourth thing that the Prophet said, the preacher said, that
you might see the Just One and hear the voice of His mouth,
verse 14. And this is what he's saying
here. The Father, God has chosen you that you might know his will
of redemption, that you might see the just one, that you might
hear a message from his own lips. Now, if the Holy Spirit anoints
our ears to hear a message from his lips, what are we going to
hear? Well, from the pulpit at Nazareth, here's what he said.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed
me to preach good news to the humble. He hath sent me to bind
up the brokenhearted. He hath sent me to proclaim liberty
to captives. He hath sent me to give sight
to the blind. He has sent me to open the prison
to those who are bound. This is the acceptable year of
the Lord." That's what you'd hear him say. On the streets
of the city, I'm not come to call the righteous, but sinners
to repentance. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest. Have you heard that
word? at the feast. If any man thirst, let him come
to me and drink, and out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. At the last supper, this is my
body which is broken for you, this is my blood which is shed
for you. Drink ye all of it." On the cross,
Father forgive them. They know not what to do. on
the Mount of Ascension. You disciples go into all the
world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall
be damned. On the throne of glory from Revelation
118, I am the first and the last. I am he that liveth and was dead. I am alive forevermore. I have
the keys of hell and death. That's what you'd hear. And Saul, the God of our fathers,
chose you that you should know his will of redemption, that
your eyes might be anointed by the Holy Spirit to see the Just
One and to hear the good news from his lips, the good news
of redemption, the good news of salvation, and that you should
be, verse 15, his witness. under all men of what you have
seen and what you've heard. We preach not ourselves. I don't preach myself as an example. I preach Christ as Redeemer. We're not seeking our glory. If we are, we're not servants
of Christ. We preach Christ. I am determined,
Paul said, after this experience, I am determined to know nothing
but Jesus Christ and him crucified. My friends, even the Almighty
Sovereign Holy Ghost doesn't speak of himself. Christ said,
when he is come, the Holy Spirit, he shall not speak of himself. He shall not glorify himself. He shall take the things of mine
and show them to you. He shall glorify me." Ananias
didn't come here to Saul of Tarsus, the convicted, broken sinner,
and say, I came from a certain school
and a certain theological seminary, and I've come here to teach you
what we Baptists believe." He came to him and said, "'It's
all God chose you, that you should know his will, that you might
see the just one, that you might hear a message from his lips,
and that you might go out and tell others what you've seen
and what you've heard, that you might be his witness. We preach
that sinners might come to the feet of Christ, that sinners'
hearts might be filled with a love for Christ, that the sinner's
mind might be filled with thoughts of Christ, that the sinner's
feet might be brought to walk in the way of Christ. that the
sinner's will might be brought to subjection to the living Christ. May it be so. Our Father, take
the message and use it to accomplish thy purpose for me, for every
person here, for this church, and for thy kingdom, wherever
it is proclaimed, wherever it is heard. May Christ our Lord
be glorified. Turn our eyes on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Let us look full into his wonderful
face, and the things of this world will grow strangely dim
in the light of his glory and his grace. For Christ's sake
we pray,

God's Message to the New Believer

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God's Message to the New Believer

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